Textile fabric



Feb. 18, 1941.

F. A. ZIRKMAN TEXTILE FABRIJ Filed May 20, 1938 FIGZ.

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z u EMM 74 5 /EX M 1 W WEAM W Egg WITNESSES Patented Feb. 18, 1941 TEXTILE FABRIC Frederick A. Zirkman, Philadelphimla assignor to Charles Lachman (70., Inc., Philadelphia, Pa.,

a. corporation of Pennsylvania 7 Application May 20, 1938, Serial No. 208,955

\ Claims (01. 154- 54) This invention relates to textile fabrics; and it has reference more particularly to textile fabrics imitative of sod and intended to be used for decorative purposes, as for example, beneath 5 Christmas trees, in stage settings, in lawn: displays in shop'iirindows and in stores, and'in cemeteries to cover up-turned earth and to line graves.

Imitation sod fabrics are ordinarily produced by placing a layer of long longitudinally aligned fiat strands of natural or synthetic leaves or blades upon a foundation web of loosely woven cloth, usually burlap; running parallel lines of stitches across crosswise of the web to secure the leaf or blade strands; and thereafter cutting said strands in the intervals between the stitch lines to provide the free ends which are intended to represent the grass leaves or blades. This method is an expensive procedure in view of the hecessity for the transverse stitching and the cutting operations, and at best results in a product which does not properly simulate natural grass because the leaves or blades are too uniformly disposed in one direction and lie too fiat against ural sod, and to make it possible to produce such 0 fabrics more expeditiously and economically than heretofore.

One way in which these objectives can be readily realized in practice, will appear from the following detailed description taken in connection 35 with the attached drawing, wherein:

Fig. I shows the top face of imitation sod fabric conveniently embodying my invention.

Fig. II is a view showing the fabric in longitudinal section; and I 40 Fig. III is a view corresponding to Fig. II showing an intermediate step in the manufacture of the fabric.

In accordance with my invention, I employ for the imitation grass, fiat leaf or blade-like ma- 46 terial which may be either synthetic or vegetable fiber like rams. whereof the strands are indicated by the numeral l in the drawing. This leaf or blade-like fiber I prepare by cutting it into suitable lengths depending upon the extent 50 of projection desired in the finished product. It may be used either alone or mixed in various proportions with hair-like or filmentary fibrous material, either synthetic, or natural fiber such for example as sisal, coir or jute, which is indi- 5 cated at 2 in the drawing; or it may be lamihated or plied with' such hair-use fibersl To produce the fabric, the cut leaf or blade-like fiber alone, or the mixture or composite of the leaf or blade-like fibers and the hair-like ,fibers is 1 formed into an even layer of therequisitedepth 5 upon a foundation web 3 of burlap or other inexpensive cloth as shown in-Figi-II, and sub jected to a needling or punching operation whereby the hair-like fibers are thrust, from above into said foundation web to penetrate the 10" same and bind in the blade-like fibers as shown in Fig. III, incidentally becoming entangled with each other, and, as a consequence effectively anchored in the foundation. This operation may be conveniently carried out in a needling or 1 punching machine such as is ordinarily used in producing felted fabrics. As a result'of the needling and punching action of the machine, the leaf or blade-like fibers arrange themselves more or less promiscuously as shown in Fig. I but with- 20 out undue packing or felting, so that the fin,- ished product is highly simulative of natural grass with the leafy blades projecting from the face thereof. The different blades and fibers and the foundation web may be separately dyed preparatory to formation of the fabric; or the dyeing may be deferred until after the fabric has been formed, as may be found most convenient in practice. A similar procedure may be followed lf fire proofing is desired.

As an alternative, the foundation web may be entirely dispensed with and the layer of blades and fibers alone subjected to the needling operation, and the fabric thereafter coated on the back with a suitable thermo-plastic binding solution or compound such as latex. If desired, binding material or latex may be applied .to the web-backed fabric to effect more secure anchorage of the blades and fibers. In either case, when the latter treatment is resorted to,,it may be desirable to brush up the surfacing to raise t blades, which latter operation may be acco plished either manually or mechanically.

Blade-like fiberis ordinarily dificult to card and to convert into batting. When it is used (5 alone, it may be distributed by hand or by a suitable spreading and levelling means incident to being advanced over the feed table of the needling machine. On the other hand, when the two kinds of fibers are used, I subject them either 60.. separately or together to a confining operation, employing for this purpose ordinary carding or garnetting machines having suitable coarse clothing on their rolls to prevent undue break-' ing up or splitting of the leafy blades. As the combed materials come from the carding or garnetting machines, they are laminated or compounded as a mixture into a layer of the desired depth, and the batting thus formed either run onto a foundation web or directly into the needling or punching machine as hereinbefore explained.

I do not consider myself limited to the use of any particular color or shade of dye, since the oloring may be varied according to the condiion which is to be simulated, and bleaching may be resorted to instead of dyeing to simulate frosted or snow covered sod.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. Fabric in imitation oi sod comprising a mass of leaf or blade-like strands of fiat rafiia fiber promiscuously arranged and interlaced with each other, and compacted inia layer of substantially uniform thickness.

2. Fabric in imitation of sod comprising a mass of leaf or blade-like strands of rams, fiber promiscuously arranged and interlaced with each other. and compacted in a layer of substantially uniform thicknesspand an anchorage backing into which the fibers extend.

3. Fabric in imitation of sod comprising a mass of leaf or blade-like strands of fiat rams. fibers and filamentary fibsrs uously arranged and entangled with each other and compacted in a layer of substantially uniform thickness.

4. Fabric in imitation of sod comprising a mass of leaf or blade-like strands of fiat rafila fibers and filamentary fibers prbmiscuously arranged and entangled with each other and compacted in a layer of substantially uniform thickness and a coating of adhesive compound on the back in which the fibers are anchored."

5. Fabric in imitation of sod comprising a mass of leaf or blade-like strands of fiat rafiia fibers and filamentary fibers promiscuously arranged and entangled with each other and compacted in a'layer of substantially uniiorm thickness. and a base of. woven material in which the fibers are anchored.

6. Fabric inimitation of sod comprising a massof leaf or blade-like strands of fiat raifia fibers and filamentary fibers promiscuously arranged and entangled with each other and compactedin a layer of substantially uniform thickness. and a base of woven material in which the fibers are anchored, and a coating of adhesive compound on the back of the woven base by which the fibers are more securely anchored.

FREDERICK A. ZIRKMAN. 

